Category: Arts and Entertainment

This category is about arts and entertainment.

Review: ‘Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story,’ starring Metallica, Exodus, Slayer, Testament and Dave Mustaine

April 24, 2020

by Carla Hay

Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett in “Murder In The Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story” (Photo courtesy of MVD Visual)

“Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story”

Directed by Adam Dubin

Culture Representation: This documentary has a predominantly white cast (with some representation of Latinos, Asians, African Americans and Native Americans) of musicians, journalists, fans and other people discussing their memories and experiences of the 1980s thrash metal music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Culture Clash: The people in this music scene had a lot of animosity toward bands and fans of “glam rock” or “hair metal” (such as Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt), whom they called “posers,” and would often get violent with these “posers.”

Culture Audience: This well-researched movie will appeal primarily to people who are nostalgic about 1980s heavy metal or people who are curious to learn more about the 1980s metal scene in the San Francisco area.

Exodus with lead singer Paul Baloff (pictured at right) in “Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story” (Photo by Harald Oimoen)

The documentary “Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story” takes a comprehensive and fascinating look at this music scene that began in the early 1980s and peaked in the mid-to-late 1980s, which is the decade that gets the spotlight in this film. Several people who were part of the scene are interviewed in the movie, including members of Metallica, Exodus, Testament, Death Angel and Vio-lence, as well as journalists, fans and other assorted scenesters. Because the movie (directed by Adam Dubin and narrated by Brian Posehn) is heavy on 1980s nostalgia from people who were in their teens and 20s back in the ’80s, expect to see a lot of middle-aged people in the documentary talking about their youth.

Metallica and Exodus are presented as the most influential bands that came from the scene, so their histories get the most screen time in the movie. All four current members of Metallica are interviewed: lead singer/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo, who is the only member of Metallica who wasn’t in the band in the 1980s. Exodus members who are interviewed are guitarist Gary Holt, former guitarist Rick Hunolt and drummer Tom Hunting.

Hammett was in Exodus before he joined Metallica, who fired guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983 and replaced him with Hammett before recording the band’s 1983 debut album “Kill ‘Em All.” Mustaine went on to form Megadeth (a Los Angeles-based band) with bassist Dave Ellefson, and they are both interviewed in the documentary.

Exodus didn’t become as famous as Metallica, but Exodus is described as being a San Francisco Bay Area band that stayed true to its thrash-metal roots, since Exodus never recorded any ballads. (Thrash metal is defined as music that’s played louder and faster than regular heavy metal, with lyrics that often express anger and despair.) Another major difference between Exodus and Metallica is that Exodus has disbanded more than once, and the band’s original lead singer died. Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff passed away after having a stroke in 2012. In a touching scene in the documentary, Holt and Hunting are shown visiting Baloff’s grave.

The documentary gets its name from the nonfiction book of the same title written by Harald Oimoen and Brian Lew, who are both interviewed in the film. And the book’s “Murder in the Front Row” title came from a line in the title track of Exodus’ 1985 debut album “Born in Blood,” which was inspired by all the blood and violence that would occur at many of these bands’ nightclub shows.

The targets of this violence were usually “posers”—the derogatory name given to fans of ’80s “glam rock” or “hair metal” bands, such as Poison, Ratt, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. Several people in the documentary describe how bands and fans of thrash metal would often immediately pick fights with “posers.” And with or without any “posers” around, there would be violence, whether it was getting slammed in mosh pits, throwing glass bottles, getting into fist fights, or destroying walls and furniture.

Baloff was notorious for starting many of these fights, especially when he was on stage. Exodus had a specific posse of fans known as the Slay Team that would be ready to get rough with “posers.” And there was even an underground Slay Team comic book illustrated by Elizabeth “Lizzie” Francois, who was Baloff’s girlfriend at the time. She’s interviewed in this movie, and some of the comic book illustrations are shown.

Even with all of this violence, the people interviewed in the movie look back on what they experienced with a lot of fondness. (“The [mosh] pits were violent as hell. It was glorious,” says Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda.) The violence is described as not so extreme that anyone got murdered at concerts, but there was enough bloodshed and broken bones for it to be dangerous to go to many of these male-dominated shows. Hammett describes how the musicians often dealt with it: “The anger and frustration [were] being channeled into our instruments.”

The trash-metal scene in the San Francisco Bay Area was largely centered in working-class areas of the East Bay, where in the late 1970s and early 1980s, unemployment and crime rates were high. Oakland and Berkeley are the two biggest cities in the East Bay, with Oakland known for its racially diverse mix of people, and Berkeley having an image as a hippie-friendly, liberal college hub. Kids were starting to discover new heavy metal, which was thriving in Europe, by trading tapes and reading about bands in magazines. Kerrang! (a British magazine for heavy metal) had free ads for pen pals, while Metal Mania had gone from being a newsletter to being an underground magazine by 1981.

Hammett remembers that in the mid-to-late 1970s, when he was a teenager in the working-class California suburbs of El Sobrante and Richmond, “We were far away from the city. We were isolated. There was nothing to do.” He adds, “There was something I wasn’t getting enough of until I heard this band called UFO.”

Hammett says he became obsessed with UFO and found other passionate fans of UFO with Lew, Rich Quintana (a journalist and DJ at college radio station KUSF) and Rich Burch, who died of needle-related AIDS in 1993. Exodus guitarist Holt describes Hammett as his musical mentor and “the first guy to play me Uli Roth-era Scorpions.”

Around the same time that the thrash-metal scene was growing in the Bay Area, San Francisco retailer Record Vault (which had a lot of imported music that bigger stores wouldn’t have) and a nightclub in Berkeley called Ruthie’s Inn became important hangouts. Ruthie’s Inn is described as the “epicenter” of the scene, because it’s where all the thrash bands that mattered ended up playing at one time or another.

The owner of Ruthie’s Inn was someone who was not a typical rock promoter—he was an African American named Wes Robinson, who had a background in blues music. Robinson’s daughter Darelle S. Ali explains in the documentary why her late father was so open to booking thrash music at Ruthie’s Inn: “His joy for something led his actions in getting involved with it. He never got involved with something just because he thought he’d be able to get involved with it.”

The history of Metallica has been covered numerous times elsewhere. Therefore, people who are already familiar with the band’s 1980s background won’t find out anything new from watching this documentary. Metallica was originally based in Los Angeles, but original band members Hetfield and Ulrich (a Danish immigrant) said that they didn’t really fit in with the Los Angeles rock scene, which was was mostly about punk acts or “heartthrob” metal bands when Metallica formed in 1981.

Metallica found instant acceptance when the band played in the San Francisco Bay Area. And when Metallica needed a new bassist to replace Ron McGovney in 1982, Metallica recruited Cliff Burton from the band Trauma. Burton only agreed to join Metallica if the band relocated from Los Angeles to his home base of the San Francisco Bay Area. Burton tragically died in a tour-bus accident in 1986, at the age of 24. Corinne Lynn (Burton’s girlfriend at the time) and his father Ray Burton are interviewed in the documentary.

Although the documentary is about the San Francisco Bay Area thrash scene, metal bands from other parts of the U.S. are interviewed in the movie if they were part of Metallica’s and Exodus’ 1980s history and if they had a large fan base in the Bay Area. Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante is interviewed because Anthrax (from New York City) and Metallica were signed to Metal Blade Records early in their careers, and the two bands toured together. Metal Blade was based in Old Bridge, New Jersey, where Metallica stayed when recording “Kill ‘Em All.” While in Old Bridge, Metallica developed a fan base called the Old Bridge Militia, who often partied with the band at a place they named their “Fun House.”

Slayer, a Los Angeles-based band, is also featured in the documentary, because Exodus guitarist Holt ended up joining the Slayer in 2011 and was in the group until Slayer disbanded in 2019. Slayer’s longtime drummer Dave Lombardo says of the Bay Area thrash scene in the 1980s: “We felt at home there” because Los Angeles was saturated with glam rock at the time.

Slayer guitarist Kerry King adds, “The Bay Area crowds were far more advanced” than the audiences in Southern California. Slayer lead singer/bassist Tom Araya sheepishly remembers how Slayer used to be a band that wore heavy eyeliner makeup, until thrash musicians in the Bay Area convinced them to stop wearing makeup before Slayer played at Ruthie’s Inn. It was a pivotal show because it was the first one that Slayer did without makeup.

Several people in the documentary also talk about the wild parties that were part of the scene. The so-called Metallica Mansion or MetalliMansion (a modest house in El Cerrito) was a big party hangout, although members of Exodus say that Metallica was hardly there because the band was usually away on tour. Hetfield describes it as a “total bachelor pad” where no area was safe from some of the mayhem that could take place there.

On a more sobering note, Hetfield also remembers famous San Francisco music promoter Bill Graham lecturing him early in Metallica’s career about the band’s wild ways, which included trashing dressing rooms. (Graham died in a helicopter crash in 1991.) Hetfield says that the talk had a big impact on him, because Graham said he had a similar talk with Keith Moon (The Who drummer) and Sid Vicious (of Sex Pistols fame), who both died of drug overdoses in the late 1970s.

Hetfield says that he was so remorseful about the violent damage in the dressing room that he offered to pay for the cost. But he noticed that the next time Metallica played a Bill Graham show, the entire dressing room was covered with plastic protectors. Metallica’s performance at the 1985 Day on the Green festival in Oakland (a Bill Graham Presents show) is mentioned as a major turning point for the band’s increasing popularity.

A counterpoint to Day on the Green was Day in the Dirt, a thrash-metal festival in Berkeley that was promoted by Ruthie’s Inn owner Robinson. The first Day in the Dirt in 1984 had a lineup that included Slayer, Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies and Possessed. Speaking of Possessed, bass player Larry LaLonde (who was an underage teen in high school when he joined the band and would later find fame as a member of Primus) says that most of the satanic imagery by the thrash bands back then was just created to get attention and that none of the band members took it seriously.

The late Debbie Abono, who used to be the manager of Possessed and Exodus, is fondly remembered by several people in the documentary. Metallica’s Hetfield says that she was Metallica’s “metal mom” and that her house in Pinole “was always a safe place,” even though her daughter Julie Ebding laughs when she remembers some of the crazy things she would have to walk over in the house when she had to go to school in the morning.  LaLonde gives a lot of credit to Abono for his early music career, and he mentions that she paid for the guitar lessons that LaLonde got from Joe Satriani. Abono’s daughter Nancy Labowitz and Rick Nelson-Abono are also interviewed in the documentary.

Other people interviewed in the movie include Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick of Testament; Phil Demmell and Robb Flynn of Vio-lence; Metallica fan club leader K.J. Doughton; Metal Blade Records co-founder Brian Slagel; Metallica road crew member John Marshall; Bay Area scenester Sven Soderlund; former Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin, who was in EZ-Street, Cliff Burton’s first band; Mark Menghi of Metal Allegiance; Toni Isabella of Bill Graham Presents; music journalists Alex Gernand, Steffan Chirazi and Joel Selvin; and fans Connie Taylor and Pam Behrhorst, who remember racking up expenses on Metallica’s checking account, and Taylor’s parents paying the cost to replace the money before the band found out.

Despite this long list of people interviewed in the movie, “Murder in the Front Row” doesn’t feel overstuffed with talking heads. That’s because this well-edited film keeps things lively with great stories and a treasure trove of archival concert footage and photos. People who despise heavy metal probably won’t enjoy this movie. But for everyone else, it’s a fun ride back to an era when musicians and fans were allowed to be a lot more hedonistic, and heavy metal was celebrated a lot more than it is now.

MVD Visual released “Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Trash Metal Story” on digital, VOD and DVD on April 24, 2020. The DVD has an extra 90 minutes of bonus footage.

Review: ‘Most Dangerous Game,’ starring Liam Hemsworth, Sarah Gadon and Christoph Waltz

April 22, 2020

by Carla Hay

Liam Hemsworth in “Most Dangerous Game” (Photo courtesy of Quibi)

“Most Dangerous Game”

Directed by Phil Abraham

Culture Representation: Taking place in Detroit, the action drama “Most Dangerous Game” features a predominantly white cast (with some black people, Asians and Latinos) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A financially desperate man, who’s been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, agrees to participate in a game in which he will be hunted by anonymous people who intend to kill him, but if he’s still alive at the end of the game, he will win $24.5 million.

Culture Audience: “Most Dangerous Game” will appeal primarily to people who like crime dramas where the action is more important than a well-written screenplay.

Christoph Waltz in “Most Dangerous Game” (Photo courtesy of Quibi)

The streaming service Quibi (which launched on April 6, 2020) has set itself apart from its competitors by offering only original content, and each piece of content is 10 minutes or less. Therefore, content that Quibi has labeled a “movie” actually seems more like a limited series, since Quibi will only make the “movie” available in “chapters” that look like episodes. The suspenseful drama “Most Dangerous Game” is one of Quibi’s flagship movies that began streaming on the service on Quibi’s launch date.

The title of “Most Dangerous Game” is no doubt inspired by the 1932 film “The Most Dangerous Game” (starring Joel McCrea and Fay Wray), because both have the same concept—people hunting and killing other human beings for sport. In Quibi’s action-filled schlockfest “Most Dangerous Game,” Douglas “Dodge” Tynes  (played by Liam Hemsworth) is the hunting game’s target who agrees to participate in the game out of financial desperation.

Dodge is a real-estate developer in Detroit who’s drowning in debt and is very close to being financially ruined. The main cause of his financial woes is a bad investment that he made by purchasing a run-down, high-rise office building that he hasn’t been able to sell. The building is in such terrible shape that Dodge hasn’t been able to attract tenants, and he doesn’t have the money to make improvements to the building.

Adding to Dodge’s financial pressure: His wife Val (played by Sarah Gadon) is pregnant with their first child. Dodge is such a loving and devoted husband that he serves Val breakfast in bed every morning. But he does keep some secrets from her.

Dodge has been experiencing painful headaches. One day, he’s walking outside when he’s overcome with pain and collapses on a sidewalk. He’s taken to a hospital, where the doctors tell Dodge that he has terminal brain cancer, and the tumor in his brain is inoperable. As he leaves the hospital in despair, a hospital orderly gives him a business card for a company called Tiro Fund. The orderly tells Dodge that the company can help patients like Dodge.

When Dodge tells Val the news about his diagnosis, she’s also understandably devastated. Dodge then confesses to her that he doesn’t have health insurance or life insurance, because he sold his insurance to help pay off some of his business expenses. Dodge’s parents are dead, Val’s parents are broke, and they have no one to turn to for financial assistance.

Is it any wonder that Dodge contacts Tiro Fund to find out what the company can do to help him? The first meeting that Dodge has with Tiro Fund chief Miles Sellars (played by Christoph Waltz, in yet another villain role) is actually shown at the beginning of “Most Dangerous Game,” before a flashback reveals how Dodge ended up becoming a part of this homicidal hunting game.

While meeting in a sleek, ominous-looking office at night, Miles calmly tells Dodge that he can become a multimillionaire if he plays the game right. Every hour that Dodge stays alive during the game, he earns a certain amount of money, and the hourly rate increases every time that he reaches a certain level in the game. If Dodge is still alive at the end of the game, he can win a total of $24.5 million. All of the money will be deposited in a secret offshore account in Dodge’s name that Dodge can monitor to verify that the deposits are being made on an hourly basis.

According to Miles, the hunters in the game are “elite, wealthy clientele,” who “hunt to kill” and who “want desperate humans” to hunt. Dodge won’t know what these hunters look like (they can be any race or gender) until the hunters reveal themselves to him when they attack. Dodge won’t know in advance how many of them will be hunting him. They can ambush Dodge, and it’s also possible that more than one hunter will go after him at the same time.

There are certain rules to the game: The hunters can use any weapons except guns while trying to kill Dodge. Dodge cannot leave Detroit city limits or else the hunt can go on for as long as he’s alive. And (not surprisingly) Dodge can’t tell anyone about this game.

Miles convinces Dodge that even if Dodge dies during the game, Dodge can still make enough money to financially take care of Val and their unborn child for several years. And all of that is enough to convince a desperate Dodge to agree to participate in the game, although he doesn’t come to that decision right away. He decides to go through it after a sought-after “last chance” business investor rejects Dodge’s proposal to invest in Dodge’s debt-ridden dud building.

The rest of “Most Dangerous Game” is basically a series of chases and violent attacks—some more believable than others. Dodge just happens to have a background as a star athlete—he was a prize-winning runner when he was in school—so it explains why he has much higher stamina in the chase scenes than a regular guy would have. But even with this athletic prowess, it’s a bit of a stretch to see Dodge do the type of stunts that he does in “Most Dangerous Game,” which clearly wants people to be wowed by the action and ignore all the problems in the screenplay.

“Most Dangerous Game” (written by Nick Santora and directed by Phil Abraham) is strictly B-movie material. The hunters who go after Dodge each has an alias that’s the name of a former U.S. president. The other hunters who try to kill Dodge are nicknamed Nixon, Reagan, Carter and LBJ. The less you know about what they look like in advance, the better the surprises are when they reveal themselves to Dodge.

However, one of the dumbest aspects about “Most Dangerous Game” is that the hunters, who are supposed to be “anonymous,” do nothing to disguise their faces when they attack Dodge in public (which is where they usually go after him), sometimes in crowded areas. And in a big city like Detroit, there are plenty of security cameras around, which is something the “Most Dangerous Game” creators want viewers to forget during the big fight scenes.

Some of the dialogue is so bad that it’s laughable. For example, in one scene, the hunter nicknamed Carter tells Dodge in the middle of a fight that he named himself after Jimmy Carter because “I like his work with Habitat for Humanity.” It’s actually one of the funnier lines in “Most Dangerous Game.” And the tone of the acting in “Most Dangerous Game” is uneven. Hemsworth acts like this is a serious drama, while Waltz seems to understand how cheesy this story is and injects some campy humor in his acting.

While the appropriately nicknamed Dodge is running around town, trying not to get killed, Val begins to notice large amounts of money being deposited to Dodge’s bank account. Wasn’t the money supposed to go into a secret offshore account? “Most Dangerous Game” has too many inconsistences and plot holes to mention.

Val enlists Dodge’s best friend Looger (played by Zach Cherry), who’s a bar owner, to help her find out what’s going on, because at this point she’s figured out that Dodge (who hasn’t come home) is in deep trouble and involved in something illegal. Val and Looger foolishly go to the bank branch where Dodge has the account and to try to discover who’s behind the mystery deposits, but Val and Looger only end up looking suspicious themselves. Looger and Val leave the bank in a hurry when the desk worker they’ve been speaking to offers to get the manager for them.

What happened to the idea that the money was supposed to go to a secret offshore account? That plot hole is never explained. As the Val character, Gadon doesn’t have much in-depth acting to do in “Most Dangerous Game,” since she’s playing a typical “worried wife” role that has become a predictable stereotype for male-oriented action stories. Looger is also very loyal to Dodge, but he’s another supporting character that doesn’t have much depth.

Miles has a creepy henchman named Connell (played by Aaron Poole), who “conveniently” shows up at the hunters’ crime scenes to clean up messes and get rid of evidence, so that the game can stay “secret.” Meanwhile, Tiro Fund headquarters is decked out with a lot of hi-tech computer equipment that tracks Dodge’s whereabouts at all times (such as showing which streets he’s on), regardless if he’s in a car, on a bus, on a train, on a ship or on foot.

It’s never explained how they’re able to keep track of Dodge in such an extremely precise way, since he does not have his phone with him at all times. But many things in “Most Dangerous Game” are illogical, including the ludicrous twist at the end. “Most Dangerous Game” has some unintentional laughs because there are so many badly written parts of the story. If you don’t care about a good screenplay and just want to see Hemsworth in a lot of scenes involving chases and fights, then this type of mindless entertainment might be for you.

Quibi premiered the first three chapters of the 15-chapter “Most Dangerous Game” on April 6, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icv7FGqZCuA

Regal Cinemas joins AMC Theatres in boycott of Universal Pictures and any movie studio that breaks home-video embargo

April 29, 2020

by Carla Hay

Regal Cinemas (which is owned by Cineworld) has joined AMC Theatres in its boycott of Universal Pictures and any major film studio that releases any movie directly to home video instead of the original plan to release the movie first in cinemas. Regal’s announcement comes one day after its competitor AMC Theatres announced it was implementing this boycott immediately, for an undetermined period of time.

Regal issued this statement on April 29, 2020, that read in part: “Cineworld’s roots go back 90 years in the industry and it was always open to showing any movie as long as the rules were kept and not changed by one-sided moves. Today we make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us.”

The boycott was prompted by Universal Pictures releasing DreamWorks Animation sequel “Trolls World Tour” directly to video on April 20, 2020. “Trolls World Tour” had originally been scheduled to be released in movie theaters on that date. But due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down almost all movie theaters worldwide, as of mid-March 2020, Universal opted to not postpone the “Trolls World Tour” release date and released the movie directly to digital/video-on-demand as a premium-priced rental.

Cineworld (based in Brentford, England) is the second-largest cinema company in world and in the U.S.,  with approximately 790 locations worldwide, of which more than 570 locations are in the United States. Regal Cinemas, a Cineworld subsidiary, is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. AMC Theaters (based in Leawood, Kansas) is the largest cinema company in the world, with more than 1,000 locations worldwide, of which more than 660 locations are in the United States.

Just like AMC Theatres, Regal has a subscription service that is suspended while its theater locations remain closed. The theater re-opening dates for Cineworld/Regal, AMC and other major cinema companies have not yet been announced, as of this writing.

The following is the full press release/statement from Cineworld/Regal:

Cineworld and Regal’s policy with respect to the window is clear, well known in the industry and is part of our commercial deal with our movie suppliers. We invest heavily in our cinemas across the globe and this allows the movie studios to provide customers all around the world the opportunity to watch movies in the best experience. There is no argument that the big screen is the best way to watch a movie.

Universal unilaterally chose to break our understanding and did so at the height of the Covid-19 crisis when our business is closed, more than 35,000 employees are at home and when we do not yet have a clear date for the reopening of our cinemas.

Universal’s move is completely inappropriate and certainly has nothing to do with good faith business practice, partnership and transparency.

Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s CEO approached Brian Roberts, the Chairman of Comcast, back on the 19th of March (after Universal announced that Trolls 2 would be released in breach of the window) and told him among other things that:

“Nice words from your team are worthless if we cannot trust you as a partner. The message that the media has portrayed is: “Hollywood breaks the window” – well, this is not true! All our partners called us in a timely manner and told us that in the current situation they want to shorten the window for movies that were already released as cinemas are closing, most importantly, they all reassured us that there will be no change to their window policy once the cinema business returned. Unfortunately I missed a similar message in Universal’s announcement… not only did Universal provide no commitment for the future window – but Universal was the ONLY studio that tried to take advantage of the current crisis and provide a ‘day-and-date’ release of a movie that was not yet released.”

Cineworld’s roots go back 90 years in the industry and it was always open to showing any movie as long as the rules were kept and not changed by one-sided moves. Today we make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us.

We have full confidence in the industry’s current business model. No one should forget that the theatrical side of this industry generated an all-time record income of $42 billion last year and the movie distributors’ share of this was about $20 billion.

About Cineworld:
Cineworld aims to be the best place to watch a movie, offering an unparalleled cinema experience in the UK & Ireland, with 102 cinemas and over 1,030 screens. Cineworld Group was founded in 1995 and is currently the second largest cinema chain in the world following the acquisition of US cinema group Regal Entertainment Group in February 2018. In 2014, the Cineworld Group combined with Cinema City International (CCI) and appointed CCI Founder and CEO Mooky Greidinger, as CEO of the Cineworld Group. In August 2016 Cineworld acquired 5 Empire Cinemas, including the iconic Empire Theatre in Leicester Square. This was followed by the acquisition of Empire Newcastle in 2017. Cineworld currently has 24 IMAX® auditoriums, and 15 Superscreens nationwide, as well as a special VIP experience currently available at 5 of their cinemas. Cineworld are the only operators in the UK to offer ScreenX – a 270-degree format that projects onto the front and side walls of the theatre across 16 auditoriums and 4DX – the immersive multi-sensory cinema experience, with 30 auditoriums across the UK and Ireland, including Cineworld Leicester Square.

About Regal:
Regal, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group, operates one of the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuits in the United States, consisting of 7,155 screens in 542 theatres in 42 states along with the District of Columbia and Guam as of March 31, 2020. We believe that the size, reach and quality of the company’s theatre circuit provides its patrons with a convenient and enjoyable moviegoing experience. We are committed to being “The Best Place to Watch a Movie!” Additional information is available on Regal’s website: www.REGmovies.com

Review: ‘Sergio’ (2020), starring Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

Senhorinha Gama Da Costa Lobo, Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas in “Sergio” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

“Sergio” (2020)

Directed by Greg Barker

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the world (Iraq, East Timor, Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia and New York City), the dramatic film “Sergio” has a racially diverse cast (Latinos, white people and Asians) that tells the story of United Nations diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian who faced a life-or-death situation in 2003, when he was trapped in a bombed UN building in Baghdad.

Culture Clash: As a UN diplomat, de Mello dealt with many political and social conflicts, including the United States’ increasingly hostile relationship with Iraq after 9/11.

Culture Audience: “Sergio” will appeal mostly to people who like movies about international relations with a formulaic romantic storyline.

Ana de Armas and Wagner Moura in “Sergio” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

In 2010, HBO premiered the documentary “Sergio,” which was about Sergio Vieira de Mello, a United Nations diplomat from Brazil who was the victim of a deadly 2003 bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. Greg Barker directed the “Sergio” documentary (which was nominated for an Emmy), as well as this Netflix dramatic version of de Mello’s life events that led up to the bombing.

Craig Borten wrote the “Sergio” screenplay, which is adapted from Samantha Power’s book “Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World.” Several real-life facts were changed for the purpose of making the film more dramatic, so if viewers want a more accurate telling of the story,  then the documentary is the better choice. But if you want a fairly suspenseful drama with a romance at the center of the film, then this scripted “Sergio” film will be more to your liking, even if the movie isn’t likely to get any awards recognition.

The “Sergio” dramatic film begins with charismatic and intelligent Sergio (played by Wagner Moura) rehearsing a speech that he’s about to give as a welcome to new staffers at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. He’s a UN high commissioner for human rights, and he’s in Iraq for a four-month mission as an independent mediator between the U.S. and Iraq.

According to the movie, it was a mission that Sergio didn’t have to take, but he couldn’t say no the people who asked him to go to Baghad, including his close colleague Kofi Annan, who was Secretary-General of the United Nations at the time. In his short time in Baghdad, Sergio has even accomplished the difficult task of meeting with shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who resisted having meetings with many other leaders. 

As he tries to prevent U.S. -Iraqi relations from deteriorating, Sergio’s goal is to work with the  U.S. while gaining the trust of Iraqis to give them back full control of their sovereignty. This isn’t the news that U.S. Presidential Envoy Paul Breme (played by Bradley Whitford) wants to hear. Paul tells Sergio in a dismissive tone, “We have our own plans.” And later, Paul tells Sergio what the U.S. position will be about the next Iraqi elections: “I’ve decided there won’t be any elections until we’re ready.”

Unbeknownst to Paul, Sergio has compiled a dossier that includes disturbing reports that the U.S. military has committed several human-right violations while in Iraq. Sergio is about to go public with this information, by holding a press conference on August 19, 2003, when tragedy strikes: A bomb goes off at UN headquarters (housed in the Canal Hotel) in Baghdad, and the explosion completely destroys the building. Sergio and his deputy administrator Gil Loescher (played by Brían F. O’Byrne) get trapped in the rubble, and are pinned from the hips down.

The rest of the movie consists of going back and forth between the frantic rescue efforts and Sergio’s memory flashbacks to various points in his life as a diplomat. There are so many flashbacks in the movie, people who prefer stories to be told in chronological order will probably dislike the very non-linear structure of the film. Many of the flashbacks aren’t identified by the year, but observant viewers can tell how far back the flashbacks are by looking at the color of Sergio’s hair—the less gray the hair, the further the flashback.

A major part of the these flashbacks is showing how Sergio met and fell in love with UN economist Carolina Larriera (played by Ana de Armas) three years before the tragic bombing. In real life, Carolina (who is of Argentinian-Italian heritage) was part of the UN team in Baghdad at the time, and she desperately searched for Sergio after the explosion. That search is depicted in the movie to maximum dramatic effect. There are multiple scenes of guards preventing Carolina from entering the danger zone, and she gets more and more hysterical.

The movie portrays Sergio and Carolina’s romance as if it’s, well, straight out of a movie. He first notices her when they’re both stationed in East Timor, and they happen to regularly jog on the same path. They have a “meet cute” moment when Sergio is out jogging, he outruns his bodyguard Gaby (played by Clemens Schick), and he happens to see Carolina again. She starts up a conversation with Sergio, and they flirt a little. Carolina tells Sergio that she knows who he is, but she refuses to tell him her name when he asks.

The next time Sergio sees Carolina, it’s at a UN meeting, and she tells him her name. He says he already knows about her because he “did his homework.” Later, Carolina tells Sergio that she did her “homework” on him too, and she knows he’s married. However, based on the sparks between them and the way they look at each other, it’s only a matter of time before they get together. Their first kiss is a very “movie moment,” since it’s outside in the rain, as they fall into each other’s arms and kiss passionately while getting soaked by the rain.

When Sergio and Carolina met and began their love affair, he was legally married but estranged from his wife, who raised their two sons (who are in their late teens/early 20s when this story takes place) in Geneva while he traveled around the world for his job. A flashback to when the kids were underage shows that Sergio was such a workaholic who didn’t spend much time raising his children, that he didn’t even know that his younger son is allergic to shrimp. It’s an embarrassing ignorance that upsets his shrimp-allergic son when Sergio and his sons have a rare dinner together at the home of Sergio’s mother.

Other flashbacks include Sergio’s diplomatic work in helping East Timor gain independence from Portugal. He and his UN colleagues were appointed by Portugal as interim government officials. Instead of imposing restrictions that would alienate the East Timor rebels, Sergio went out of his way to welcome the participation of the natives fighting for independence, including rebel leader Xanana Gusmão. As Sergio says in the movie, “We were sent here as overlords, but I really hope we can leave as respected colleagues.” It was a controversial decision that some of Sergio’s UN colleagues, including Gil, did not approve of at first.

While in East Timor (in a scene that looks very fabricated for the movie), Sergio and Carolina meet local women who work at a yarn mill. Carolina introduces Sergio to a woman who’s had the tragedy of her sons and husband being killed. When Sergio asks her what she wants that will make her happy, she gives a poetic answer about wanting to have the ability to fly and fall from the sky like rain and remain in the place where she belongs. It’s a line that Sergio repeats when he’s at the presidential palace in Indonesia and he’s asked a similar question.

Another flashback is of Sergio, Gil and a female colleague being taken at gunpoint to Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge’s reign in the 1970s. It turns out Sergio and Ieng know each other from their days at the Sorbonne, so they get along just fine, and danger for the UN trio is averted. When Sergio and Gil reminisce about that experience several years later, Gil jokes, “I have a title for your autobiography: ‘War Criminals: My Friends.'”

Although Sergio is a well-respected diplomat, his workaholic ways have taken a toll on his marriage. Carolina, a sassy Harvard graduate who doesn’t want to be a trophy wife, confronts Sergio about making a commitment to her when Sergio tells Carolina that he wants every UN assignment of his to have a clear and defined plan. “I don’t like indefinite assignments,” says Sergio.

Carolina, who doesn’t want to be kept hanging in their relationship, essentially tells Sergio that she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with him unless he can also look at the relationship with a clear and defined plan. It’s a turning point when they realize that they want to be fully committed to each other.

There’s a lot to like about “Sergio,” especially for people who might not be familiar with the real people who inspired the movie. However, some of the scenes seem just a little too corny and contrived, especially those involving the Sergio/Carolina romance. Sergio’s unresolved marital status no doubt caused a lot of messiness and turmoil in real life, which is very much glossed over or ignored in the film. (It’s not mentioned in the movie, but Carolina’s claim that she was Sergio’s common-law wife led to a very protracted legal battle.)

Despite a hokey tone to the romance, Mauro and de Armas have convincing chemistry together, and they do a good job with the dialogue that they were given. In the film, Carolina says she’s doesn’t want to be an “appendage” to a powerful man, but she’s written in the movie as exactly that. If Carolina is supposed to be a brilliant economist, it’s not shown in the film, which mostly has her following Sergio’s lead or going into full-anxiety mode when she’s trying to find him in the post-bombing rubble. It’s really the same type of “worried wife or girlfriend” role that’s a cliché in movies that are set in war zones.

The film also took liberties with some facts (as many “inspired by a true story” movies do), by having Gil in the East Timor scenes. In real life, Gil was never in East Timor, as noted in the film’s epilogue. The epilogue also mentions that the way Gil was written in the movie (he’s portrayed as a very sarcastic skeptic) was as a composite of the real person and several members of Sergio’s A-Team.

The film’s editing has some notable moments, such as when the blast impact of the bombing on Sergio is juxtaposed with the blast of beach waves enjoyed by Sergio in his beloved Arpoador, an idyllic region of Brazil. However, the jumbled timeline in “Sergio” makes the film a lot sloppier than it needed to be. “Sergio” ultimately leaves the impression that it’s a trite portrayal of a richly layered and complicated life that is presented much better in the “Sergio” documentary.

Netflix premiered “Sergio” on April 17, 2020.

Review: ‘Behind You,’ starring Addy Miller, Elizabeth Birkner, Jan Broberg, Philip Brodie and Aimee Lynn Chadwick

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

Elizabeth Birkner in “Behind You” (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)

“Behind You”

Directed by Matthew Whedon and Andrew Mecham

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the horror film “Behind You” has an almost all-white cast (except for an Indian American with a small speaking role) portraying middle-class characters battling a demonic spirit in a haunted house.

Culture Clash: Two underage sisters end up living with their mysterious aunt, who owns the haunted house, and  they have conflicts with their aunt over how to deal with the terrifying presence in the home.

Culture Audience: “Behind You” will appeal mostly to people who like suspenseful and fairly predictable stories about a demonic spirit inflicting terror upon people.

Elizabeth Birkner and Addy Miller in “Behind You” (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)

The horror flick “Behind You” takes the frequently used “haunted house” concept and brings some thrilling moments to the subgenre, even though the movie ends up being very predictable and kind of messy in the final third of the movie. However, there are some genuinely frightful jump scares throughout the film, which is elevated by the believable acting from the movie’s cast members.

“Behind You,” which takes places in an unnamed U.S. city, begins with a flashback to 1979, when a 16-year-old girl and her boyfriend are reading a scary bedtime story to the girl’s younger sister, Angela, who is about 7 or 8 years old. The story being read to the girl mentions the Jabberwock, Lewis Carroll’s mythical demon creature that was part of Carroll’s 1871 novel “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.” If people don’t know anything about “Behind You” before seeing the film, this reference to the Jabberwock is the movie’s first foreshadowing that mirrors will play a big role in the story.

The story reading ends when Angela is told that it’s time for her to go to sleep. However, Angela is afraid to go to the bathroom by herself. Her older sister tells her, “People don’t really go through mirrors.”

Fast forward to 2019. Two blonde sisters who look very similar to the blonde sisters from 1979 are being driven in a car to a destination where they don’t necessarily want to go. (For whatever reason, all of the women and girls in this movie are blonde.) The two sisters in the car are in the same age range as the sisters from 1979. They are teenage Olivia (played by Addy Miller) and her younger sister Claire (played by Elizabeth Birkner), whose divorced mother Rachel has recently died.

Because Olivia and Claire’s estranged father cannot be located, the sisters are being taken to the home of their only other living relative: a recluse named Beth Molnar (played by Jan Boberg), who is Rachel’s older sister. Rachel’s friend/co-worker Camilla Clark (played by Aimee Lynn Chadwick) is driving the sisters to their aunt Beth’s home, which is everything you would expect from a place that turns out to be a haunted house.

As soon as they arrive, they are greeted by a middle-aged neighbor named Charles (played by Philip Brodie), who tells them that he’s a friend of Beth’s who helps her out a lot. The sisters are reluctant to live with someone they’ve never met before, but Camilla assures them as she looks at the house, “This doesn’t look so bad, does it?”

Meeting their aunt Beth for the first time turns out to be an uncomfortable experience for Olivia and Claire. As soon as Beth sees her nieces, she looks slightly horrified and tells Camilla coldly, “I don’t want them here.” However, Camilla has no choice but to leave the sisters there, because Camilla doesn’t have legal rights to keep the children.

Of course, since viewers have already seen in the flashback how much Olivia and Claire look like the sisters from 1979, it’s pretty easy to figure out that Beth was the older teenage sister, based on the timeline and the age Beth seems to be at now. It explains Beth’s reaction and why she might not want flashbacks to what something awful that happened in that house in 1979.

And if it isn’t made clear enough that there’s something terrifying about the house, Beth immediately sets rules for Olivia and Claire. She tells them that they’re not allowed to wander around the house at night. And under no circumstances are they allowed to go into Beth’s study or in the locked basement. Beth also warns the sisters that if they hear things at night, it’s either the old house making noises or it’s because Beth is sleepwalking.

It’s during this tension-filled first meeting that Beth and viewers see that Claire will not speak to strangers directly, as a result of the trauma of her mother’s death. (How Rachel died is not mentioned in the movie.) Instead, Claire will only speak to a stuffed animal (a white bunny rabbit), which she has named Lucy B.

Beth’s reaction is one of disgust. She comments about Claire’s habit of speaking to the stuffed animal: “It’s a sign of weakness, and weakness is not good.” Claire and Olivia look hurt by Beth’s harsh words, but they have no choice but to live with this unpleasant aunt who doesn’t really want them there.

In the dark and foreboding house, Charles cooks the dinner that they have during the sisters’ first meal with Beth. It’s during this dinner that Charles gives Beth a book with “necromancy” in its title. It’s the first time that Beth cracks a smile because she’s pleased that Charles has found the book for her. When Olivia asks what the book is about, Charles tells her that it’s about “history.”

During the dinner, which Charles says is “African stew,” Claire has a health scare when she suddenly starts choking and she passes out. Olivia immediately runs to her belongings and brings back a hypodermic needle, which she injects in Claire, who comes back to consciousness. Olivia says that Claire is allergic to peanuts. She asks if the stew’s ingredients included peanuts, and an apologetic Charles admits that it does.

It isn’t long before Olivia and Claire (who share a bed) find out there are more terrifying things that can happen to them in the house than an allergic reaction to peanuts. But before all the mayhem starts, Olivia gets the first sign that the place is haunted in the sisters’ first night at the house, when she goes into the bedroom’s bathroom and sees that the bathroom mirror is covered in wallpaper.

Of course, she tears some of the wallpaper off and sees, to her horror, that the mirror shows a reflection of a decomposed body of a girl in the bathtub behind Olivia. When Olivia turns around, the body isn’t there, but the frightful vision is enough for Olivia to get freaked out and run back to her bed.

Then, Claire wakes up to hear her toy bunny rabbit Lucy B. whispering to her. It sounds like a child’s voice that’s overdubbed in layers with echoes, and the voice effects are some of the creepiest and scariest parts of the movie. The voice tells Claire that she needs to go to the forbidden basement. But first, the voice tells Claire that she has to get the key to the basement lock from Beth’s study. (And Beth happens to be in the study, but she’s asleep.)

The voice also tells Claire that she can see her mother again if she follows these instructions. What follows over the next hour or so of this 86-minute film are the most suspenseful and best parts of the movie. More than half of the movie has spoiler information that won’t be revealed in this review, but it’s enough to say that Beth is indeed the older sister from 1979 who was shown in the beginning of the film.

And it’s also revealed what happened to Beth’s younger sister Angela, the frightened girl who was being read the bedtime story. It should come as no surprise that the house has been haunted for years. And why is Beth still living there? That is also explained in the story.

“Behind You” uses a lot of the same tropes as a lot of other horror films about demonic spirits, haunted houses and exorcisms. What makes this movie a little different is how mirrors are used in possibly defeating the evil spirit that is inflicting terror on the house’s residents. The movie explains why Beth is still living there, but it doesn’t adequately explain why, during key parts of the story when certain violent acts have already happened, Olivia doesn’t call the police.

It’s probably the biggest obstacles that movies about haunted house find difficult to overcome: How do you explain why the people in the house don’t get out of there and/or call the police? In “Behind You,” there are several attempts to leave the house by certain people, but (you guessed it) the demonic spirit in the house makes it difficult. As for not calling the police, there’s sort of a flimsy reason presented in the movie for why the people in the house don’t call law enforcement (the cops won’t believe that a ghost is responsible for the violence that happens in the house), but it’s still not very convincing.

Another major plot hole to the movie is that this haunted house is not isolated (like most haunted houses are in movies) and is instead on a typical suburban-looking street with next-door neighbors. (“Behind You” was filmed in Utah at a house that was for sale and underwent interior renovations for the movie.) There are scenes in “Behind You” where certain characters could run to a neighbor’s house to get help, but they don’t. However, most horror movies rely on characters making dumb decisions in order to move the story along and create more scares. “Behind You” is no exception.

“Behind You” was written and directed by Matthew Whedon and Andrew Mecham, and it’s the duo’s feature-film debut as directors. According to the movie’s production notes, the film’s initial script was written by Mecham, and Whedon came on board to help with a major rewrite of the screenplay, in order to add more tension. Although the technical elements (such as the editing, cinematography and musical score) of “Behind You” work just fine, and there is plenty of tension in the story, the screenplay really needed some more work for the final 30 minutes of the movie.

Although the last third of “Behind You” falls off the rails into ridiculousness, there are some noteworthy elements to the movie. For a low-budget film, the visual effects are good (but not outstanding) and achieve the intended results of some genuinely eerie and frightful imagery. The house’s interior production design also succeeds in conveying the unsettling atmosphere of a house that’s permeated by evil.

And the acting by Birkner, who plays Claire, is especially good in showing a range of emotions and performing difficult scenes that most child actors would not be able to handle. Birkner, who was 10 when she filmed “Behind You,” is a talent to look out for if she decides to continue acting. But the flip side to what the child actors do in the movie is that more sensitive viewers might be bothered by some of the violent scenes involving the child actors. It’s not exploitative, but some of it is disturbing and definitely not recommended viewing for very young children.

Compared to other movies about haunted houses, “Behind You” isn’t the worst, but it’s not groundbreaking at all. The movie’s ending is ultimately what drags the film down to the “mostly mediocre and forgettable” level. And yes, the very last scene is as cliché as you can get. However, if you’re looking for a movie with some creepy and unnerving moments, then “Behind You” should deliver what you might want, as long as you keep your expectations very low for a well-written plot.

Vertical Entertainment released “Behind You” on digital and VOD on April 17, 2020.

Review: ‘Bad Therapy,’ starring Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry and Michaela Watkins

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

Anna Pniowsky, Alicia Silverstone and Rob Corddry in “Bad Therapy” (Photo courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)

“Bad Therapy”

Directed by William Teitler

Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles, the dark comedy “Bad Therapy” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Asian Americans) representing the middle-class and upper-class.

Culture Clash: A middle-aged married couple go to a relationship therapist, who’s actually a manipulative, toxic person who tries to break up the couple.

Culture Audience: “Bad Therapy” will appeal mostly to people who like to see movies about troubled marriages or unhinged characters, but the film’s uneven tone and sloppy, predictable screenplay make this movie a disappointing waste of time.

Michaela Watkins in “Bad Therapy” (Photo courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)

“Bad Therapy” (directed by William Teitler) is supposed to be a dark comedy or a comedy/drama or a dramedy, but the movie’s three lead actors have such contradictory styles in their performances that it makes the entire tone of this poorly written film look completely out of whack. Nancy Doyne adapted the “Bad Therapy” screenplay from her novel “Judy Small,” which was the original title of the movie. However, the “Judy Small” book isn’t even listed on Amazon, so it might be difficult for viewers to find out how the movie differs from the book.

Judy Small is the name of the family/relationship therapist who wreaks havoc on the lives of a Los Angeles married couple—real-estate agent Susan Howard (played by Alicia Silverstone) and TV executive Bob Howard (played by Rob Corddry)—who are both in their early 40s and have been married for three years. Living with the couple is Susan’s rebellious 13-year-old daughter Louise (played Anna Pniowsky), who does things like smoke marijuana and defy her school’s dress code. Louise is Susan’s daughter from Susan’s first marriage, which tragically ended when her first husband (who was her college sweetheart) died in a fishing accident. Bob has apparently adopted Louise, since her last name is also Howard.

At the beginning of the story, Susan is feeling restless and discontented in her career and in her marriage. Being a single mother for five years has left her constantly worried about financial security, while Bob is the exact opposite and doesn’t think they need to worry about money. (It’s revealed later in the film that Bob is head of programming at a network called the Nature Channel, where he makes $125,000 a year.)

Bob suggests that they have a biological child together, but Susan doesn’t really like the idea because it would be difficult for her to conceive a child at her age, and she’s feeling uncertain about where the marriage is going. “I want a break from all the drudgery!” she wails at one point in the movie.

There are also indications that Susan is a worrisome control freak. She nags at Bob (who’s not overweight) about what he eats, by warning him that he could have a heart attack. During breakfast, after Susan leaves for work, he throws his bran oatmeal in the garbage disposal and orders a cholesterol-heavy meal over the phone from a local restaurant. Later in the story, it’s revealed that Susan has forbidden Louise from taking public transportation, presumably because she doesn’t think public transportation is safe enough for her 13-year-old daughter.

It’s clear that one of the reasons why their marriage has hit a rough patch is precisely because Bob and Susan are total opposites in their outlooks on life. Susan is someone who’s the type of person who’s very judgmental and likes to have specific goals and plans (and she tends to get anxious if things don’t go her way), while Bob is more of a “go with the flow” easygoing type of person. In the beginning of the movie, before they begin therapy, Susan also expresses regret that she and Bob didn’t properly discuss the issue of them having a child together. And now, Bob wants Susan to have a child with him, but she doesn’t share that same wish.

One day, Susan has lunch with her close friend Roxy (played by Aisha Tyler), who’s a materialistic and shallow trophy wife to a wealthy business mogul. Roxy tells Susan the happy news that she’s pregnant with triplets after going through fertility treatments. Roxy also mentions that she and her husband have been seeing a relationship therapist. Susan asks Roxy for the name of the therapist, because Susan says that she and Bob might need marriage counseling.

When Susan brings up the idea of marriage counseling to Bob, he is extremely reluctant, but Susan eventually persuades him. “If it will make you happy, we’ll try it,” says Bob. It won’t be long before Susan and Bob regret that decision.

Judy Small works in a small office in a strip mall—the first indication that her practice is not very successful. She starts off the couple’s first session by getting Susan and Bob to talk about themselves and why they think they need counseling. Susan does most of the talking during this first session, while Bob admits to Judy that he really doesn’t want to be there.

Susan tells Judy what her first marriage was like (it was very happy, she says), but her marriage to Bob is on shaky ground: “I want our marriage to be the real thing,” Susan says of her relationship with Bob. “For some reason, I don’t feel satisfied.” On the other hand, Bob doesn’t think their marriage is in trouble.

Susan actually does too much talking during that first session, because she reveals something that is news to Bob: She’s worried that Bob might start having inappropriate thoughts about Louise, now that Louise has hit puberty age. Susan bases this suspicion on how she thinks Bob has been looking at Louise recently. Bob vehemently denies that he thinks about Louise sexually, and he tells Susan how hurtful it was for her to think he could do something so heinous. Judy suggests that Louise join them in their next therapy session so that she can observe their family dynamics.

However, enough was said in this first session for Judy to see the cracks in the Howards’ marriage and to use those vulnerabilities to her advantage. One of the first clues that Judy might intend to cause trouble is how she openly flirts with Bob in front of Susan, by saying how extremely attractive he is and that he must get a lot of female attention. Of course, Susan misses this big red flag because she tends to be self-absorbed and is the type of person who loves to hear herself complain about her life.

Judy sees even more ways to manipulate the couple when Louise reluctantly joins them for the next session, and Judy sees that Louise resents Susan for being overprotective. And then, Judy’s devious machinations really start to kick into high gear when she suggests (and Susan readily agrees) that she counsel Susan and Bob alone in separate sessions. During these separate sessions, Judy uses information that they tell her to drive a wedge of distrust between Bob and Susan, especially when it comes to a past cheating fling that Bob had while he was dating Susan. (He lets this information slip during a solo session with Judy.)

As the therapy sessions continue, it becomes pretty clear that Judy wants to seduce Bob. And she encourages Susan to have an affair with another man, but Susan completely hates the idea and doesn’t want to do it. Because Bob and Susan have separate sessions with Judy, she’s able to manipulate them into thinking that they’re falling out of love with each other.

“Bad Therapy” has some dialogue and lines that are downright cringeworthy. At one point in the movie, Judy says to Bob: “Trust is like a muscle. Once it’s torn, it’s difficult to repair.”

It should come as no surprise that Judy has a dark past, which is revealed in the movie. There are also people from her past—including someone named Dr. Ed Kingsley (played by David Paymer)—who can threaten to expose Judy and her secrets. What could have been the most suspenseful part of the film is actually handled in a very clunky and unrealistic way.

In addition to the screenplay’s flaws (some of Bob and Susan’s actions make no sense after they see more of Judy’s true colors), the movie’s three main actors deliver performances as if they’re in three different movies.

Silverstone portrays Susan as an over-emoting neurotic who’s in a wacky comedy. (In “Bad Therapy,” she gives Jim Carrey a run for his money with rubber-faced expressions.) It’s by far the most annoying, worst performance in the movie, which is a shame because Silverstone is capable of doing better acting. (Her small but tragically impactful role in the horror film “The Lodge” is a recent example of how she can show good acting talent.)

Corddry is playing Bob as if he’s in straightforward drama, which this movie is most definitely not. Because Bob has cheated on Susan before (prior to their marriage), the movie drops major hints that he’s capable of cheating on Susan again, especially since she’s become a bit of shrew in their marriage. Unfortunately, Corddry (who was such a comedic scene-stealer in “Hot Tub Time Machine”) has almost no sense of humor at all in portraying Bob. It’s too bad that Corddry plays Bob in such a bland, forgettable way because Bob is a character who reacts to things, so the character had great potential for comedic possibilities, but it ended up being a missed opportunity.

As for Watkins, she comes closest to the movie’s intended dark comedy. But the way she portrays the unhinged Judy is as a hollow, not-very-smart villain. Even with some of the terrible dialogue in the movie, there was a way for Watkins to elevate the character’s “femme fatale” appeal, but she didn’t. Instead, Judy just comes across as creepy and weird, when charm and intelligence would be needed for this type of corrupt therapist to fool people.

One of the odd things about “Bad Therapy” is that it spends too much time veering off into subplots that are not necessary to the story. There are several scenes that show what teenage Louise does at school and in her free time that didn’t need to be in the film, except for one scene that takes place on a bus. While on the bus, Louise (defying her mother’s orders not to take public transportation) and her best friend Zooey (played by Paris Bravo) happen to see Judy walking down the street. It’s a scene where Judy shows her demented side.

And there’s another unnecessary subplot involving Bob’s co-worker Reed (played by Haley Joel Osment), who confesses to Bob that he’s had an office fling with someone in the accounting department named Annabelle (played by Sarah Shahi), who left her husband because of the affair. And now, Annabelle wants to run off with Reed and move to Mexico. Reed, who wants to break up with Annabelle, has a live-in girlfriend who’s eager to get married. Reed has no intentions of breaking up with his live-in girlfriend and moving to Mexico.

Reed tells Bob that he’s afraid that if he ends the relationship with Annabelle in the wrong way, she might accuse him of sexual harassment later to get revenge on him. Bob has no business getting involved, but he does anyway, by volunteering to talk to Annabelle about it. And where does he have this private and sensitive discussion with Annabelle that’s supposed to prevent a possibly messy #MeToo situation? In a bar, where Annabelle promptly puts the moves on Bob.

It’s not really a spoiler to reveal this subplot about Bob’s colleagues Reed and Annabelle, because it really has no bearing on what happens in the rest of the movie, which has one too many filler scenes. And the scenes that are necessary are just substandard and often dull, with awkward performances from the three lead actors. How bad is “Bad Therapy”? It makes Lifetime movies (which are often about troubled romances and crazy/evil women) look like masterpieces.

Gravitas Ventures released “Bad Therapy” on digital and VOD on April 17, 2020.

2020 Comic-Con International in San Diego cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic; San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon 2021 dates announced

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

After weeks of speculation about the fate of the 2020 edition of Comic-Con International (also known as San Diego Comic-Con) during the coronavirus pandemic, the event’s producers have finally announced what was widely expected: For the first time in San Diego Comic-Con’s 50-year history, the event has been cancelled. The event had been set for July 23 to July 26, 2020, with preview night taking place on July 22. Comic-Con International will return to San Diego from July 22 to July 25, 2021, with preview night taking place on July 21.

Comic-Con International, which has been a sold-out event every year for past several years, is one of the world’s largest fan conventions for sci-fi, fantasy, horror and action entertainment. An estimated 130,000 people attend each year.

In addition, Comic-Con International’s sister convention WonderCon (which takes place in Anaheim, California) has also been cancelled for 2020, with plans to return in 2021. WonderCon was originally set for April 10 to April 12, 2020 and was originally planned to be rescheduled in the summer of 2020.  The next WonderCon will now take place from March 26 to March 28, 2021.

Comic-Con International’s full programming lineup had not been announced at the time of the cancellation. However, many companies that make movies, TV shows, comic books and video games (which all provide the majority of the event’s biggest programming and much of its sponsorship) were not going to participate this year, due to many releases being postponed and productions being halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Furthermore, it is still uncertain when large gatherings will be approved in California. All indications are that ever since widespread U.S. shutdowns began taking place in March 2020, it might take months for things to go back to “normal,” depending on when there will be widespread testing and a vaccine for the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s the full statement from Comic-Con International:

Comic-Con Announces Plans in Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Current Situation Requires Exceptional Measures

For the first time in its 50-year history San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the organizers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced today with deep regret that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020. The event will instead return to the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021.

Recognizing that countless attendees save and plan for its conventions each year, and how many exhibitors and stakeholders rely upon its events for a major portion of their livelihood, they had hoped to delay this decision in anticipation that COVID-19 concerns might lessen by summer. Continuous monitoring of health advisories and recent statements by the Governor of California have made it clear that it would not be safe to move forward with plans for this year.

Similarly, WonderCon Anaheim, which was to have been held April 10-12, 2020 will return to the Anaheim Convention Center from March 26-28, 2021.

In addition to their conventions, Comic-Con has been planning a major renovation of Balboa Park’s Federal Building to be completed for the grand opening of the Comic-Con Museum in the summer of 2021. However, the COVID-19 situation has had an effect on those efforts as well. As such, they will be rephasing the Museum’s initially planned major renovations, but will not scale back the experience to be offered to visitors upon the Museum’s grand opening. They anticipate releasing building plans illustrating the Museum’s transformation and sharing more information about those efforts in the coming months.

SDCC also announced that individuals who purchased badges for Comic-Con 2020 will have the option to request a refund or transfer their badges to Comic-Con 2021. All 2020 badge holders will receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to request a refund. Exhibitors for Comic-Con 2020 will also have the option to request a refund or transfer their payments to Comic-Con 2021 and will also receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to process their request.

In the next few days onPeak, Comic-Con’s official hotel affiliate, will be canceling all hotel reservations and refunding all deposits made through them. There is no need for anyone who booked through onPeak to take any action, including trying to cancel their reservations online or contacting the company via phone as the process will be handled automatically. Those who booked rooms through onPeak will be notified when refunds have been completed.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and while we are saddened to take this action, we know it is the right decision,” said David Glanzer, spokesperson for the organization. “We eagerly look forward to the time when we can all meet again and share in the community we all love and enjoy.”

July 7, 2020 UPDATE:  Instead of an in-person event for the 2020 edition of Comic-Con, there will be a virtual online event called Comic-Con@Home, which will take place from July 22 to July 26, 2020. The Comic-Con International official site has more details.

Review: ‘Abe,’ starring Noah Schnapp, Seu Jorge, Dagmara Dominiczyk and Arian Moayed

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

Salem Murphy, Tom Mardirosian, Arian Moayed, Noah Schnapp, Dagmara Dominczyk, Daniel Oreskes and Mark Margolis in “Abe” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)

“Abe”

Directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the dramatic film “Abe” has a diverse cast of middle-class characters representing white Americans; immigrants from Palestine and Israel; an Afro-Brazilian; and various other ethnicities in minor roles.

Culture Clash: The movie’s title character is a 12-year-old aspiring chef who’s caught between two cultures: Israeli Jewish on his mother’s side and Palestinian Muslim on his father’s side.

Culture Audience: “Abe” will appeal primarily to viewers who like heartfelt, realistic family dramas or foodie movies.

Noah Schnapp and Seu Jorge in “Abe” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)

“Abe” is a delightfully charming drama that tells the story of a 12-year-old New Yorker named Abe Solomon Odeh, who has dreams of becoming a chef and is torn between between the two worlds of his American parents’ interfaith marriage. His mother, Rebecca (played by Dagmara Dominczyk), is Jewish and of Israeli descent. His father, Amir (played by Arian Moayed), was raised Muslim and is of Palestinian decent. Abe’s grandparents who live nearby add to the religious tension because they’re more adamant than Abe’s parents that Abe choose one religion to practice, and they try to convince Abe that their respective religion is the best for him.

On the Muslim side are Amir’s parents Aida (played by Salem Murphy) and Salim (played by Tom Mardirosian), while on the Jewish side are Rebecca’s recently widowed father Benjamin (played by Mark Margolis) and Rebecca’s brother Ari (played by Daniel Oreskes). When they get together for meals at Rebecca and Amir’s home in Brooklyn, the conversation usually ends up in arguments over religion and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Abe says in the movie that the two sides of his family rarely agree on anything. For example, with falafel: “One of my grandmas makes it with chickpeas, and the other with fava beans.” As Abe says in the beginning of the film, the Muslim side of his family wants to call him Avarham, while the Jewish side wants to call him Ibrahim. Abe just wants to be known as Abe.

As for Abe’s passions, he says: “I enjoy food. I can’t resist it. The only thing I like better than food? Cooking.”

Abe is a loner whose social life mostly exists online with “friends” he’s never met in person, although some of the people who comment on his social-media posts are people he knows from school. He spends a lot of time posting his thoughts and fantasy meals on Instagram. As a budding foodie, he’s constantly looking for new recipes.

One day, while surfing the Internet, Abe stumbles across some articles about an Afro-Brazilian street chef name Chico Catuaba (played by Seu Jorge), who’s gotten media attention for his Afro-Brazilian fusion of falafel. Chico happens to work at a street market food stall in Brooklyn, where Abe tracks him down and meets him. Chico gives Abe a free acarajé as a parting gift.

Meanwhile, Abe’s parents have enrolled him in a kids’ summer day camp for cooking. But when Abe arrives, he finds out that it really is a kiddie program, where the emphasis is on pretty colors instead of ingredients. As soon as Abe hears that the cooking camp won’t allow the students to use knives, he bolts and makes his way to the other place where Chico works: a co-op kitchen, where Chico is the head chef.

Abe has become a fan of Chico, but Chico and some of his co-workers are very reluctant to let Abe hang around. Abe brings Chico a ramen taco as a gift, which Chico tastes and immediately says that the taco is “terrible.” After much pleading and persistence from Abe, Chico relents and says Abe can become by the kitchen every day to help out for a few hours a day. However, instead of letting Abe help cook right away, Chico tests Abe’s commitment by having him do menial tasks, such as cleaning dishes and taking out garbage.

Of course, child labor laws in the U.S. make it illegal to have a 12-year-old kid working these kinds of hours and with no pay. However, where Chico works seems to be the kind of co-op kitchen where the laws aren’t necessarily followed and it’s not a big concern if the employees are legally authorized to work there or not.

It should come as no surprise that Chico turns from gruff supervisor to caring mentor and eventually gives Abe a chance to cook with Chico and the rest of the kitchen crew. But how much longer can Abe keep it a secret that he’s skipping cooking camp and heading off to a kitchen to work with adults?

Meanwhile, there’s mounting tension at home over religion, since Abe has reached the age when he has to decide if he wants a bar mitzvah. The dilemma is compounded because Abe’s father Amir is an atheist, while Abe’s mother Rebecca is a religious Jew. Therefore, Abe is confused over who he should please: his atheist father, his Muslim relatives or his Jewish relatives. A few things happen (which won’t be revealed here) that change the family dynamic.

Working with Chico and his fusion style of cooking inspires Abe to make a Jewish-Muslim Thanksgiving fusion meal. The menu includes hummus and challah bruschetta; turkey with matzo pits and olive stuffing; falafel bits in tahini dill; and fattoush salad with garlic matzo. What happens at the meal causes the family to confront deep-seated issues.

As the central character Abe, Schnapp gives a wonderfully nuanced performance that is realistic at portraying his adolescent angst without being melodramatic. Dominiczyk and Moyaed turn in solid performances as Abe’s bickering but loving parents. Seu Jorge is also very good as Chico, Abe’s unexpected mentor. And as the wisecracking Ari, Daniel Oreskes brings comic relief to the film and some of the movie’s most memorable lines. (When he looks at Abe’s Thanksgiving menu, Ari says “Hummus and challa? That sounds like a porno.”)

“Abe” is the first narrative feature film from Brazilian director Fernando Grostein Andrade, who previously directed the documentaries “Wandering Heart” and “Quebrando o Tabu.”Grostein Andrade knows from personal experience what it’s like to come from a family of two very different religions, since he has European Jewish grandparents and he grew up Catholic. It’s probably why the sensitive issue of a child growing up in an interfaith household is handled with authenticity and respect.

And as for the delicious food scenes in the movie, they should cause some instant cravings. There’s nothing fancy or complicated about “Abe” (written by Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader), but the story is unique enough for it to stand out from most other independent films about families. Anchored by an appealing performance by Schnapp, “Abe” is an emotionally genuine movie that’s worth seeking out if you like stories about people chasing their dreams despite dealing with a lot of personal turmoil.

Blue Fox Entertainment released “Abe” on digital and VOD on April 17, 2020.

HBO Max greenlights dog-grooming competition show; Jess Rona leads the panel of judges

April 17, 2020

Jess Rona (Photo courtesy of HBO Max)

HBO Max, the upcoming direct-to-consumer offering from WarnerMedia set to launch in the spring of 2020, announced today the greenlight of Hot Dog (working title), from Jax Media and Making It’s Nicolle Yaron. The twelve-episode, half-hour series features three dog groomers facing off in a full head-to-tail creative competition showcasing canine breeds of all kinds.

Inspired by the social platforms and coffee table book from celebrity dog grooming expert Jess Rona, each episode will include imaginative challenges and out of the box themes meant to spotlight the best looks for man’s best friend. Featuring comedic commentary from celebrity guests and a host, Rona will lead the judging panel with the Best in Show winner walking away with a cash prize and first place rosette.

Jess Rona built a following online with her signature slo-motion blow dry videos and serves as the dog grooming artist to many celebrity dogs. In addition to grooming, she is the author of Groomed, the director of Tegan and Sarah’s Closer video, and has appeared on Drunk History and New Girl.

“Jess Rona has made a name for herself as dog groomer-to-the stars and it is so fun to be able to bring her incredibly successful online brand and business to life in this way, ” said Jennifer O’Connell, executive vice president of original non-fiction and kids programming for HBO Max. “Expect pure escapism that the whole family can watch together and root for their favorite pooch with the most fabulous and creative trans-fur-mations.”

Hot Dog is a comedy competition series from JAX Media as they continue to expand their slate into the unscripted space.

“We are very excited to work with Nicolle, Jess and HBO Max on this very important project. There’s no better time to watch a dog get a bath than now,” says JAX Media’s partners Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, Brooke Posch and John Skidmore.

The series will be executive produced by Jax Media’s Tony Hernandez, Brooke Posch and Séamus Murphy-Mitchell along with Making It’s Nicolle Yaron and Jess Rona. Abi McCarthy has been tapped as showrunner.

“Haute Dog” (Photo by John P. Johnson/HBO Max)

September 16, 2020 UPDATE:

“Haute Dog,” HBO Max’s head-to-tail dog grooming creative competition series showcasing canine breeds of all kinds is launching with its first six episodes on Thursday, September 24, 2020. Emmy nominee Robin Thede (“A Black Lady Sketch Show”) is joining celebrity dog groomer Jess Rona to judge the imaginative challenges and out of the box themes meant to spotlight the best looks for man’s best friend. These doggy makeover wizards compete to turn the K-9s into K-10s. Matt Rogers (“Las Culturistas”) serves as the show’s host.

The most adorable competition series ever created, each episode features three dog groomers facing off over two rounds. Rogers provides comedic commentary as Rona leads the judging panel with her extensive knowledge of breeds and proper grooming techniques, with Thede serving as “haute” expert evaluating the outrageous and jaw-dropping transformations. The judges determine who wins Best in Show, with the lucky groomer walking away with $10,000 and a first place rosette. Rona’s coffee table book Groomed and social platforms, including her signature slo-motion blow dry videos, inspired the series.

Jax Media completed production of the series over four weeks this summer in Simi Valley following full union guidelines and COVID protocols, with zero positive results from cast, crew and producers. Tests were conducted regularly across four weeks of production from load in to strike.

About HBO Max
HBO Max is WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer offering debuting in spring 2020. With 10,000 hours of curated premium content anticipated at launch, HBO Max will offer powerhouse programming for everyone in the home, bringing together HBO, a robust slate of new original series, key third-party licensed programs and movies, and fan favorites from Warner Media’s rich library including Warner Bros., New Line, DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes and more. Sign up for updates at HBOMax.com.

About WarnerMedia
WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Now, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others. WarnerMedia is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).

About JAX MEDIA
Founded in 2011, JAX Media is a television and film production juggernaut run by Partners Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, John Skidmore and Brooke Posch with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Jax Media has created a production model that allows talent to maintain control of their content and the results have been answered with awards and critical acclaim. As a company, they provide comprehensive production from development through post with a highly experience in-house production team who expertly implements the unique Jax Media model that has proven itself time and time again as a success for studios, networks and creatives alike. Jax Media currently has 11 shows in production and was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the 2018-2019 TV season alone

Review: ‘A White, White Day,’ starring Ingvar Sigurðsson and Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir

April 17, 2020

by Carla Hay

Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir and Ingvar Sigurðsson in “A White, White Day” (Photo courtesy of Film Movement)

“A White, White Day” 

Directed by Hlynur Pálmason

Icelandic with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Iceland, the dramatic film “A White, White Day” has an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A widowed off-duty police officer becomes increasingly obsessed with the suspicion that his late wife was having an affair.

Culture Audience: “A White, White Day” will appeal mostly to people who like arthouse films that are a slow burn to a riveting climax.

Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir and Ingvar Sigurðsson in “A White, White Day” (Photo courtesy of Film Movement)

On the surface, an Icelandic off-duty police officer named Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurðsson) seems to be a contented grandfather. He spends a lot of time doting on his spunky pre-teen granddaughter Salka (Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir), and he’s also busy building a house on the rural property that he owns with his brother. But looks can be deceiving. Ingimundur, who has been widowed for two years, is slowly unraveling. “A White, White Day” gradually builds up to the day when Ingimundur can no longer pretend to be “normal.”

“A White, White Day” (written and directed Hlynur Pálmason) moves at much of the same glacial pace that life does in the rural part of Iceland where Ingimundur lives. The film is more concerned with being a character study than it is being a movie where something dramatic or compelling has to happen in every scene. In fact, most of the first six minutes of the film consists of different exterior shots of the remote farm house where Ingimundur lives and the changing seasons.

There are many “slice of life” moments in the film, such as the playful banter that Ingimundur and Salka have with each other, the peer-group soccer games in which he participate in his spare time, and the often-dull work that he has at police headquarters, since the crime rate in the area is very low. His two main co-workers at the police station are relatively laid-back Bjössi (played by Sigurður Sigurjónsson), who is close to Ingimundur’s age, and ambitious hothead Hrafn (played by Arnmundur Ernst Björnsson), who’s young enough to be Ingimundur’s son.

But there are signs that Ingimundur is troubled. In a meeting with his psychiatrist Georg (played by Þór Tulinius), Ingimundur says that he’s stopped having nightmares and he isn’t as lonely when his granddaughter Salka comes over to visit. Ingimundur often babysits Salka when her parents—Ingimundur’s daughter Elín (played by Elma Stefania Agustsdottir) and her husband Stefán (played by Haraldur Stefansson)—have to be at work. Georg tries to get Ingimundur to open up more about his feelings, but Ingimundur insists that he’s just fine.

The very beginning of the film shows a car skidding off of a cliffside highway during a rainy and foggy day. Viewers find out later that the car’s driver was Ingimundur’s wife. Her tragic, accidental death is still haunting the family two years later. Elín has been drinking heavily, and Ingimundur asks Stefán to take care of her. At a family gathering, Ingimundur’s other daughter Ingibjörg (played by Laufey Elíasdóttir) tells Ingimundur that she’s finally gathered her late mother’s belongings and they’re ready for him to pick up.

When Ingimundur is alone and going through the boxes of his late wife’s possessions, he finds some things that trigger the suspicion that she was cheating on him with another man named Olgeir Karl Olafsson (played by Hilmir Snær Guðnason). He finds out Olgeir’s address and phone number by looking him up in a phone book. He calls Olgeir, but hangs up every time that he answers. Ingimundur also goes over to Olgeir’s house, just to watch what’s going on.

The movie will keep viewers guessing on what is going to happen next. It’s enough to say that a “White, White Day” takes its time to dig into Ingimundur’s psyche and expose his true state of mind. The last 30 minutes of the film are a series of events that result from Ingimundur’s obsession with finding out the truth about the nature of his wife’s relationship with the man whom he’s been stalking.

Viewers get a major hint that “A White White Day” isn’t going to be a warm and fuzzy movie when this quote is shown on screen in the prologue: “On such days when everything is white, and there is no longer any difference between the earth and the sky, then the dead talk to us who are still living.” However, the movie isn’t entirely bleak, since the loving relationship that Ingimundur and Salka have with each other is a bright spot in his life.

Sigurðsson does a haunting performance of a man who’s trying to hold his life together, even though he feels deep down like his life is falling apart. As for Hlynsdóttir, who makes her feature-film debut in “A White, White Day,” she is particularly good in her authentic portrayal of Salka.

The deliberate pacing of “A White, White Day” won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but writer/director Hlynur Pálmason clearly used this method to show how someone’s mental instability can easily be hidden among the everyday and mundane activities of life. The movie is a meditation on the toxic effects of grief, as well as a cautionary tale showing that sometimes people are their own worst enemies instead of the adversaries they think they hate.

Film Movement released “A White, White Day” through Film Movement’s Virtual Cinema with participating U.S. theaters on April 17, 2020. The movie was already released in Iceland in 2019.

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